Thank you @Creative Style Interior Design and @bigreader @Creativelychallenged - Thank you for your nice words. We are indeed very happy with the result. We also went through all these stages you describe, so don't feel depressed... there might be light at the end of the tunnel. Our research stage was so long and quite discouraging at times. We've always wanted to live in a queenslander, but our house is not one. This didn't stop us on going ahead adding some character to our bathrooms design (and kitchen). We started with the idea of making these bathrooms with a colonial touch but we found that it was not easy to find the elements we wanted (tiles, furniture, tapware) at a cost that would fit our budget. We learned that the type of tiles we liked (encaustic) were VERY expensive ($200+), traditional looking furniture was also very expensive... So we shifted to a more modern design...(not very happily though), and after a while of collecting ideas for modern tiles, furniture etc.. we felt quite depressed because we were compromising... updating our bathrooms with something fresher, but far, far away from what we really liked. In our view modern furniture looked very plain, streamlined and... boring, but we were doing 2 bathrooms (on a budget) so we were not prepared to spend a fortune, and we settled with modern. We ordered marble type tiles for the floor 900x600, and wood like tiles for the walls, and booked the builder to start demolition. Luckily for us National tiles called us saying that there was an error and the tiles they promised were not going to be available for 3 more months!!! Depressed again.... It took us so long to find something we liked (kinda) and now we were back to square one. Then my lovely wife said... Why don't we give it another go and try to make a more traditional design as we originally wanted.... So to make it short... we went back online with 'refreshed' energy and pressure (demolition already started) and found many things I coudn't find before: Floor tiles @ $25/m2 Subway tiles for walls @$16 the box on sale... Ensuite furniture and basin from Ikea Main bathroom furniture was an antique dresser we found in an op shop for $150 repainted and repurposed.... etc... In the end we spent approx $12,5K for both bathrooms in total :-) So, to summarise... don't dispair... just look in this website, on pinterest, magazines, google, etc... Play around with ideas and copy!... (you'll see that our ensuite is quite similar to the first photo in this discussion)... Good luck! :-)

having a broken ankle made me so much more aware of the restrictions on elderley, disabled and temporarily indisposed in most bathrooms so, when planning our new bathrooms we made sure that the doorways were wide enough for wheelchair access, the toilets are installed a little higher to make sitting and standing easier, entry to the shower and access around the toilet are "drive in" The toilets and shower have proper grab rails installed during construction, not as an afterthought, we have straight grab rails installed as towel rails, 30mm square and rectangular textured tiles as a non slip floor, a fold up seat in the shower, a proper chair to sit and dry your toes and help during dressing, controlled temperature hot water, adjustable spray shower heads and hand held adjustable spray (separate to the overhead shower not attached to slip down rails) the vanity and toilets are wall hung for easier cleaning and the space under the vanity is a handy place for a waste bin and slippers out of the way, all medicines are stored in a shallow wall hung medicine cabinet and there's good lighting, overhead heater with fan, underfloor tile heating and all taps are rounded to prevent accidental cuts and bruises on old flesh...the two things to regret are: we installed a walk in hydrotherapy bath that could have waited until really necessary because we have no traditional bath in the house for little kids and we couldn't find a soap dish without sharp edges so that gap is waiting for the new styles to be released...btw all the details about grab rails heights etc are readily available on Google but can't remember which specific sites we used

Our house is full of cavity sliders. Twice they were all (but one) replaced due to swelling/warping and rubbing against framework when opening and closing. Some made terrible noise whenever we opened or closed them. Hubby had a hunch they were poorly manufactured overseas and discovered that was the case. Builder sourced a local manufacturer and the whole lot, bar one, was replaced and we haven't had any further issues. The one door couldn't be replaced due to it's location - a wall would have had to be pulled down, just as co-design has described. This experience makes me think it may be a case of ensuring you purchase well manufactured doors for your climate and particular environment, and take into careful consideration the particular location they will be installed.

Bath v shower. If you go for the shower and no bath, make the space big enough to retrofit a bath in later. Bath is normally less than 900 which is preferred shower width however, If u plan on being there 10 years then can’t loose either way. Talk to your plumber about the most cost effective layout options, for example they may suggest rehanging door to swing other way or moving door to open up other layouts, I agree about corner cabinets, my sister just replaced hers with straight and there is more space not less and much more modern look.